In Transit

In Transit: Be Careful What You Eat!

Every year we try to take a family vacation. A few months ago we spent 8 days in Mexico. As a family we’ve been to Italy, England, Spain and Las Vegas, just to name a few. As a couple my wife and I have been from California to Israel, and as an USAF service member I’ve been as far as Saudi Arabia.

We’ve traveled enough to know that there are certain things you must have when you travel, like a passport if you are going outside of your own country and some form of identification if you are traveling within. We have been educated in situational awareness so we, in most cases, are aware of our surroundings at all times. With a few exceptions, our travels have been, for the most part, successful.

Our extensive exploits in transit have educated me on two places I prefer to avoid whenever possible. The first place is Spain. Every single time we go, someone steals from us. The second place we steer away from is Charlotte airport. Every single time we have traveled through there, we experience delayed flights and bad weather. Once, my wife and I had to sleep overnight on a cot in the terminal because the delay lasted so long.

Now if you’re looking to travel soon, let me give you a little advice. Successful trips require diligent preparation. When you’re traveling to places you’ve never been, I do not recommend winging it. You may have heard it said that those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

I believe success happens when opportunities collide with preparation and as Edna Modes from the movie, The Incredibles would argue,

“Luck favors the prepared.”

But what do you do when you’ve prepared but the unexpected happens? You’ve been here before, you’ve done this a million times but this time it’s not working. This time things are different. They added a new highway or built a new bridge. Have you ever mapped out a trip and as you traveled, you came to road construction with detours that don’t seem to take you in the direction you want to go?

you know the route, but this time it’s different. You planned for a certain arrival time but it doesn’t look like you’ll make it. And you’re not familiar with this new road. It’s dark, bumpy, and narrow and it was not in your plans to take. You were prepared for the highway, but this road makes you uncomfortable. Who could blame us for wanting to be comfortable when we travel? Traveling has its own stresses so don’t judge me if I want a first class seat on the plane. Don’t hate on me for riding in luxury on my journey. I’m out of my element so if I need a sense of control, then let me decide a few how’s and when’s while we’re in transit. If I have to move, if I have to go, at least let me be comfortable.

You might not believe me here but I found something out about comfort that you might want to write down.

COMFORT is the enemy of AMBITION.

If you’ve ever been the best in anything, or the fastest, or the strongest in the weight room, but you’re not anymore, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re over thirty and make a certain amount of money, you know what I’m talking about.

When All of your bills are paid, when you can afford nice vacations and you can buy your kids whatever you want, what happens? You stop volunteering for extra hours at work, because you’re comfortable. Comfortable people don’t update their resume. They do enough to keep their jobs. Their only ambition is too not get fired. Comfort is the enemy of ambition.

That’s not so bad when things are good. Good times relax us. Quiet moments entIce us to stay right where we are and we thank God for good times and peaceful moments. Rest and relaxation is important but if we stay in a place of comfort for too long, we can be lulled into a dangerous sleep mentally and spiritually.

This is what happened to the ancient Israelites around the time of Daniel. Some of us know about his experience in the lions den but we don’t know what lead up to it. We don’t know that Daniel’s life was not always in exile. His biography extends beyond the fury friends and an egotistical king. In fact, the more we learn about Daniel, where he comes from, and how he navigated through transitional moments, and When we compare that to his contemporaries, we will see how and gain wisdom on how to handle our own life moments in transit.

Dan 1

Daniel 1 (NIV)

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

That’s About 70 years. What that means is that Daniel spent pretty much his entire life in transit. From one king to another. He had good times and bad, ups and downs. He went from being a palace prince to a prisoner on death row and when the enemy couldn’t kill him, God put him back into the palace. Did God do it? Yes, he did but Daniel had a part in his success, too. So, here are three things we should learn from Daniel.

Gods is in control

When we truly understand this, it doesn’t matter whose in office. When you know God is in control, you won’t get so upset about politics because at the end of the day, when all the wars have been fought and after all the lies have been told, when the government breaks its promises and as nations rise and fall, God’s word is true, his hand is steady, his promises are yes and amen. So as long as my hope is in God, as long as I look to the hills from whence comes my help, as long as I know that the creator of heaven and earth is the author and finisher of my life, come what may and who may, God is in control and so I know I’ll be just fine. Which leads me to the second thing we learn from Daniel. Which is

2. Choose your battles wisely

Have you ever known someone who has a strong opinion about everything? They fight for things that don’t even affect them the same way they would fight if their lives were at stake. I knew a guy in high school who was murdered after a heated argument over what style of martial arts was the best. Which of us in this room are willing to die defending the honor of kung fu?

One of the wisest things I’ve ever heard when it comes to leadership came from a most surprising source. There was a certain Roman Catholic pope who said good leaders should

Notice everything. Correct little.

I thought, how profound. What a way to create credibility. This isn’t just for leaders, but people in general. And this is counterintuitive to our new world of social media where the rules to being an influencer encourage us to post as often as possible so that people don’t forget you. But at some point your opinions start to become noise. And some people have made a good living making nothing but noise and so when it comes to things that really matter, no one wants to hear what they have to say.

When we look at Daniel, we don‘t see him fighting over what clothes they made him wear. Bit today, people are fist fighting over a mask! You don’t think Daniel would have preferred a King that shared his values? Yet, he served the leadership that God had placed over him in such a way that they catered his every meal to his own liking. In case you forgot,

Ro 13:1

Romans 13:1 NIV

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

And someone under the sound of my voice won’t hear me right through here because your candidate isn’t in office but I’m about to walk tall and tell you the truth anyhow. God is not Republican nor is he democrat. God is not American, nor is he Hebrew. God is the creator of heaven and earth and everything in it, that means every nation, every color, every race, and every sex belongs to him. Male, female, Greek or Jew, bond or free, all of us belong to God! Tap somebody on the shoulder and tell them, “Stop attending every argument you’re invited to.” Choose your battles wisely. The third thing we can learn from Daniel is the fact that no matter how intelligent we think we are, be it street smart, slick talk, MBA or doctorate degrees

3. God’s Wisdom Trumps Ours

The text tells us that God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel received a bonus. He could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

Pro 3:5

Proverbs 3:5 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Why, because God is omniscient and we’re not. He knows things we don’t know. He knows the end before the beginning because he functions in eternity. That means while we’re still en route, God’s already been around the block a few times. Before you started packing your bags, God’s already at the final destination with his feet kicked up. He knows the road and he’s seen what’s in front of you.

So it behooves us to learn to hear the voice of the Lord. Especially while we’re in transit. Why? Because

The more in tuned we are to God’s leading and direction, the more prepared we will be to shift when the road conditions change.

If you were to keep reading through the book of Daniel, you will find that he had a regular prayer life to where he prayed faithfully, three times a day. Something tells me that this was not simply a ritual or a routine prayer, but Daniel was continually in the face of God. That’s why he knew what God was up to and this knowledge of God’s business gave him favor with man. Write this down…

Proximity Breeds Familiarity

If you want to know God and understand his ways, you need to get into a habit of staying in his presence. On this journey, if you want direction, you can get it from anybody. But if you want the best direction to get to the goals you have for your life, or better yet, to reach God’s destination for your life, then you need direction from the author and finisher of your life. Listen, God has a plan for your life. And the sooner you realize that, the more comfortable you will be, even while you are in transit.

Remember what he told Isaiah

Is 55:8-12

Isaiah 55:8–12 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Listen, as God takes us from glory to glory, and from faith to faith, while in the potters hands we will be bent and molded, we’ll have to endure the fire and be spun on the potter’s wheel. And even after making us, he might have to break us again.

I know it hurts. Some of us are tired of the struggle. We’re mentally and emotionally exhausted. But the race is given to those that endure until the end.

You’re not defeated. You’re just in transit!

And when you get through to the other side, in due season, you will reap the reward that God has for you on the other side of through, if you do not faint.